JoNova
A science presenter, writer, speaker & former TV host; author of The Skeptic's Handbook (over 200,000 copies distributed & available in 15 languages).
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Statistics
Interesting perspective on data centers from tech pioneer from WAY back in the day.
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2026/07/18/ai-data-centers-are-the-heroes-not-the-villains/
I’m with him on data centers, but I think he gets a bit out over his skis talking about fusion and geothermal energy generation.
Fusion has always been ‘just over the horizon’, but never seems to arrive. I believe science will eventually crack it, but I doubt it will become commercially viable within the next decade or even two, and it may not even happen this century. It’s certainly not something a business should be counting on in their planning process.
Geothermal is great where the geological conditions to make it viable are present, but those conditions are relatively rare. I see it as similar to hydro, useful but limited by local geography.
Nuclear fission and hydrocarbons are still the best bet for planning data center power generation for the foreseeable future. Orbital solar also makes sense, but that’s a bit too long-range at this point to be a realistic business plan.
210
Maxinomics on Youtube has some great videos on how tech is evolving and will impact our lives in the not so distant future.
He’s got a couple recent ones on SpaceX that breaks down how they make their money and what their vision for the future is. The first one breaks down how they are winning the ‘land rush’ to claim ownership of orbital space real estate, comparing it to the Portuguese caravels in the age of discovery and the building of the transcontinental railroad. The second one gets into launch economics and how SpaceX has changed the math today and the future potential for orbital data centers to do the same for computation.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_jGAK0LRRk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DlXb3zSLdFY
The third relates to AI, and the mistaken perception that it will eliminate jobs, with his primary comparison being how automated teller machines (ATMs) created more bank teller jobs rather than eliminating them (as was originally feared).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRv5kW5mAxM
120
The way I see Steve is that ATM’s are just one small step in the Banks journey in eliminating staff and branches. It’s all part of the “Conditioning” to move to their goal of a cashless world totally controlled by Banking computerisation. If I’m lucky I’ve got about ten years left, I may get to see it.
Best of luck
110
Except that’s not what ATMs did. They led to an expansion of bank branches because they cut the overhead to operate a single branch. Same goes for internet banking. Physical banks that employ people still fill a role.
Same goes for physical bookstores. Amazon was supposed to drive brick-and-mortar bookstores out of business, but it didn’t. There are more Barnes and Noble bookstores today than there were 20 years ago. Amazon just forced them to cut out all the fat and get more efficient. Those who adapted are still doing fine. Those who didn’t joined the dinosaurs and Dodo birds in extinction.
61
I dont know where you live Steve, but that is not the reality in regeonal Australia where bank staff and branches have been decreasing steadily over the years.
180
Fair enough.
The video is based on US employment statistics. Apparently there is a different dynamic at work in Australia. If I had to hazard a guess as to why, I’d imagine it’s because Australian local/regional/federal regulation and taxes/fees makes it a heck of a lot harder to operate a profitable brick-and-mortar bank branch in Australia than in the USA.
12
It’s driven by greed, Steve.
60
Not just reduction in branches, but significant reduction in staff.
My father was a bank manager, and later today I will be in the branch he retired from 40 years ago.
When he retired he had 40 staff under him.
Today that branch has less than 10.
70
And if it’s anything like my local branch it will have quite a few people waiting in the que.
40
The problem is that the banks have a responsibility to shareholders and its expected that eventually one hubot could run the bank 24/7 without a glitch.
00
Time will tell Steve, time will tell.
Regards
40
It’s 40 years now.
32
Not sure about any growth in book shops Steve. I buy all my books online, but cannot offload any these days – the libraries won’t accept them, the secondhand bookshops, few in number, are overloaded with books they can’t sell. In general, the younger folk are not reading books these days.
40
Strangely, here in the Adelaide Hills there are several secondhand bookshops. In Mt. Barker there are at least 5 (or even 7 if you include the second Red Cross and the one in neighbouring Totness). Nearby Balhannah has one (and another that has secondhand sales every few months) and 3 in Woodside.
Of course the Labor Candidate never looks like winning an election, so that must means only the gullible or illiterate vote Labor.
That should get me censored!
10
“the younger folk are not reading books these days.”
Its not that they don’t read books, they just can’t read! Why would they when there is Youtube, TikTok, Facebook etc, a million people all trying to become movie stars in their own lunchtime…
00
While the United States and other sensible countries are building coal, gas and nuclear power stations and hydro where possible, to power data centres/AI, Australia is proudly blowing up its power stations.
In fact, the worldwide demand for power stations is so high it’s created a substantial lead time to build coal, gas or nuclear power stations so even if Australia elects a conservative government like One Nation, it will be many years before new power stations can come online, apart from all the other hurdles of building anything useful in Australia.
It won’t end well.
400
even NZ has moved onto a ” drill baby drill” Energy security policy.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/politics/747450/can-nz-first-pull-off-the-drill-baby-drill-moment-it-dreams-of
170
“Labour doesn’t support the idea and National won’t give it a firm tick, only saying the party already supports oil and gas exploration, ”
Exactly the same as Aussie, Left is right behind the UN agenda and the Right as spineless fence-sitters.
…and this follow of course, Peters is NZ’s Pauline Hanson.
“Peters criticised National and Labour for only tinkering with the fuel security issue by offering solar panel solutions. It seems to be working better than most for New Zealand First, which is gaining support in all the polls. What’s more, it’s eating into support from other parties, even gobbling up former politicians from both major parties.”
120
Whilst Fusion technology requires overcoming some scientific problems, Goethermal is currently only restricted by physical/engineering limitations. That technology already exists, so my money would be on advanced goethermal ( deep drill) heat sources replacing much of the current thermal generation plants on existing sites.
11
We don’t need to drill to the centre of the earth, we just need temperatures around, say, 350degC. we just need a lot (i.e. tens of km) of wellborn exposure at that temperature range, so vertical wells are not very useful as the nice zone is not very big, deeper is too hot, shallower is too cool.
Horizontal (or high inclination) wells are the solution. But, in order to know where we are when drilling multiple wells, we still need electronics to record, amongst other useful things, the earth’s magnetic field orientation relative to the drill bit.
High temperature electronics certainly exist, but are really expensive. There isn’t a major technology limit, rather an economic one. Geothermal just doesn’t make money the way oil/gas does, but drilling doesn’t get cheaper, and even when minimising the “useless” part of the wells, there’s a lot of drilling just to get to a zone of interest..
have a look at Eavor Technologies: https://eavor.com
and
Fervo Energy, in the USA, has massive Department of Energy backing.
https://fervoenergy.com
40
Just don’t put Timmy in charge.
20
Hasn’t worked that well in Australia though. Both geothermal projects failed.
20
Nonsense! Both left backers (but not those who believe the hype) well off
30
Malcolm Rubio declares war on far Left globalist fascistic terrorist groups like Antifa.
Video: https://youtu.be/Vmr2tdUJwjc
Comments from PolitiBrawl:
I was pleasantly surprised that Australia actually bothered to attend. I didn’t think our far Left Government were concerned about Antifa or other far Left terrorism or even acknowledged that it existed. The public serpents who attended must have done it for the free overseas trip at taxpayer expense.
According to TIME attendees were:
180
Typo, unnoticed unauthorised spelling “correction” by App. Marco not Malcolm.
90
“The public serpents who attended must have done it for the free overseas trip at taxpayer expense”.
Certainly. They will jump at any opportunity to attend a conference that doesn’t feature far-right, fossil fuels or failed climate prophecies in the title.
00
Trigger warming for Leftists:
472
David, this lady has not got the attention she richly deserves……….outstanding comments from her………no BS !!
120
A whole grievance industry and layers of public service careers depend on her not getting attention
70
First time I had a smoking ceremony/welcome to country attempted to be inflicted upon me I was Federal public servant. When it was announced I stood up and announced I was going outside for me own smoking ceremony while pulling a cigarette out of my pocket. About 40 or so people joined me of the 200+ in the venue.
These days I’d be sacked for it.
Fortunately I’ve never had to suffer through one in person since, though I did get hit with an “acknowledgment of elders” in a theater last week. The audience was an older one, lots of 70+ people in it. There was deathly silence, you could have heard a pin drop on carpet in the aftermath.
70
Shudda yelled out “We ARE the elders!”
10
US Federal Court puts an end to Democrat mail-in voting scam.
If mail-in voting can be kept only for people who genuinely can’t attend a polling booth (e.g. military, disabled, overseas) and proper identification is made, Democrats might find themselves even less popular.
https://youtu.be/fJQe7auiyBE
271
Be careful trusting youtube videos for current news. They all spin and wildly exaggerate it to favor their preferred political bent. That video is about 20% truth and 80% hype.
It was a win for the Trump administration, but it was a very limited one that is still being constrained by multiple lower court orders.
https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/5976171-appeals-court-trump-administration-usps-mail-in-ballots/
90
Even the US Postal service is trying to influence the application of the SAVE act.!!!
20
What a significant move that is – if it can’t be countered in other ways. I can’t understand what the land of democracy allowed it for so long.
60
Because the land of democracy isn’t real, its just a label and anything goes (or at least what you can get away with) under a democracy facade
50
The difficulty is that the constitutional power to run elections falls with the states not the federal government. Each state can pretty much run voting however it sees fit, and blue states like making elections as insecure and opaque as possible. Until their voters start electing people to state government who want that to change, the federal government can do very little to change it.
20
There isn’t a problem with postal voting in Australia.
https://www.aec.gov.au/FAQs/postal-voting.htm
US democracy is flawed, but we shouldn’t be concerned, the system should recover after the midterms.
16
Midterms won’t change anything in regards to voter security. Trump will keep trying to tighten it up and the blue states will keep fighting him. Then if/when Democrats win the Presidency, the sides will change and the White House will try to loosen security and the red states will fight it. The more things change, the more they stay the same. In the end, the federal government’s ability to change the voting process is very limited, no matter which party is in power. Change has to happen at the state level.
61
El+Gordo means after mid terms the Democrats will have a clear path to continue their vote fraud measures, as they have been doing for decades.
40
Neither party gets any benefit from postal voting, but somehow Donnie has turned it into a witchlunt.
‘The Court’s ruling, which applies to similar laws in thirteen other states and the District of Columbia, staved off a scramble to rewrite election protocols before November 3. The decision, however, probably will not have a major impact on election results. Historically at least, neither Democrats nor Republicans have gained an advantage from mail-in voting. Members of both parties like the convenience it offers.
‘President Donald Trump has never accepted that fact. He has pushed to limit mail-in voting on the grounds that it undermines election integrity, even though he has voted by mail himself. He took to Truth Social after the Court handed down the Watson decision to demand that Congress pass the SAVE America Act, which would go far beyond demanding that ballots be received by Election Day and sharply limit when ballots can be cast by mail. The prospect that Congress will pass the bill, however, remains nil.
‘The bigger threat to mail-in voting may come from the U.S. Postal Service. It proposed a rule last month that would allow it to refuse to distribute mail-in ballots in states that decline to give the federal government access to their voter rolls. The proposal reflected an executive order Trump issued in March directing the Postal Service to send mail-in ballots only to approved absentee voters. Last week, a federal judge put the proposal on hold.’ J M Lindsay (CFR)
14
How will it “recover” exactly? Recover to what baseline? In the US its State issue, therefore subject to 50 opinions about the rules and what they mean and which ones will be respected. I dont care really as I am a furriner, I just react when people hold up the US as a beacon of democracy.
There are umpteen ways of going about democracy and they all have wrinkles including ours. I think the Swiss have a good system, but it sits inside a respectful, high trust, culture which is atypical globally.
30
‘How will it “recover” exactly?’
A sharp move to the left at the midterms would be a clear indication that US democracy is still in good working order.
‘Recover to what baseline?’
Dunno, the legal and political system appears to be under stress, an oligarch has taken the helm and wants to rule the world. The SDA has an opportunity to break up the uni party system.
04
Remember when…..
You had to go to Libraries to find out information?
Or you owned Encyclopedias.
AND, you still had to have some idea of what you were looking for.
150
But today you still need the ability to distinguish between what’s valid information and what’s not.
Sadly, due to the deliberate dumbing-down of the “education” system, people no longer have that ability.
For example, young and not-so-young wokesters believe just about everything AI tells them or what politicians or senior public serpents or other “authority” figures say which is a very dangerous situation.
I still maintain a physical book library. Last count I had 55 book cases of books (more at my office)…but I’m trying really hard not to buy any more.
191
Same, David. Though recently I lamented the fact that there were some books unread. But you are right – critical thinking just not taught these days. It was the legacy of western civilisation, but it just seems to be abandoned.
150
The irony is that if you ask any teacher, they will flat out tell you that “critical thinking skills” ARE a part of the curriculum they teach.
Yet here we are…
50
That’s because for the last 40+ years they have been told that Critical Theory is actually critical thinking.
They know no better, and it’s deliberate.
50
Books should be treated the same as any data source, such as AI.
All data is tainted with the author’s beliefs at the time of publishing.
In that respect, AI is probably more current than an aging book collection…. ( which it can reference also !)
20
The only totally honest books are found under “Fiction” and I’m not being totally cynical. You read fiction and think “Could that really happen?” and you are “thinking critically”. If you read history as a teenager you can live your life misinformed.
10
You had to go to Libraries to find out information?
One word describes the horror: Microfiche.
90
Ahh! Microfiche. I remember. (Invented by an Optometrist, I’ll bet.)
Tony.
110
Would those who are so dismissive of “THE WEB” be equally dismissive of Britannica? They would not have Funk & Wagnall on the shelf to cross reference.
20
I remember in the 70’s we purchased a set of World Book.
Including the Childrens ones.
20
And microfilm….
The only way to read US Census sheets before the Mormons (and some others) scanned from the film and indexed the pages on line….
Do the LDS family history centers still have film/fiche readers?
10
FWIW
“Canadian Wildfire Smoke Just Crossed the Border—And It Blew Up the Fantasy of Carbon Emission Trading”
“Now, try to run a precise carbon emission trading system on top of this reality.
The smoke does not stop at the 49th parallel. Neither do the carbon dioxide and other gases released by those fires.
So tell me: whose emissions are these? Canada’s, because the fires started there? The United States, because the pollution is landing here and affecting our air and our people? Or nature’s, because most wildfires in remote boreal forests are started by lightning and have burned for millennia as part of the carbon cycle?”
More at
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2026/07/19/canadian-wildfire-smoke-just-crossed-the-border-and-it-blew-up-the-fantasy-of-carbon-emission-trading/
100
FWIW
“Rolling Blackouts Hit New York”
“At least since New York passed its Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA) back in 2019, it has been clear that trouble has been coming for New York’s electrical grid. The CLCPA effectively prohibits construction of new fossil fuel power plants, even natural gas plants; and the old ones are aging and are forbidden to be replaced or upgraded. Supposedly, lots of wind and solar generators were going to be added to the system. But those have been slow to come and, more importantly, can’t be counted on to generate anything when you need them. In addition, new construction of such things has now been stalled by the end of federal subsidies. At some point the lines of diminishing reliable generation and increasing demand would have to cross.”
More at
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2026/07/19/rolling-blackouts-hit-new-york/
150
Serves them right!!
110
Just make sure all of Westchester is impacted and things will change more quickly. Rich people hate inconvenience.
20
FWIW –
“Knee Pain? Ragged Cartilage? Research Suggests Surgery’s Not the Best Answer”
https://kffhealthnews.org/health-industry/knee-surgery-arthroscopic-cartilage-meniscus-finnish-study-osteoarthritis/
Via https://hotair.com/headlines/2026/07/18/knee-pain-ragged-cartilage-research-suggests-surgerys-not-the-best-answer-n3817016
31
It is difficult to decide what to do. In my limited experience, arthroscopy and shaving the ragged edge of the meniscus tear seemed to help. The knee effusion and pain quickly settled down and did not recur.
Logically it would seem that the surgery should help.
Maybe cases for surgery should be selected more carefully.
40
more whataboutism that doesn’t change anything about the first statement
00
more whataboutism that doesn’t change anything about the first statement
00
FWIW
“Energy Thought Experiment”
“Earlier this week, I made the two day drive from Maryland to Tennessee. Throughout much of West Virginia and East Kentucky, I saw a lot of signs of coal production, past & present. This prompted me to do some research:
Is there a technology that converts coal into oil, or some kind of liquid energy substance?
At scale, what would the cost be to create a gallon of this liquid fuel, converted from coal?
What are the coal reserves of America?”
More at
https://www.smalldeadanimals.com/2026/07/19/energy-thought-experiment/
Concludes
“So, my question to SDA’s resident energy expert, Brian Zinchuk, and everyone else, is this: Why is there so much hand wringing from the usual suspects over oil running out, when this coal will extend liquid fuel usage for many years to come?”
80
Coal to liquid fuel is cost competitive at current prices.
The sooner we establish some conversion plants the better.
70
Sasol’s history indicates it is possible to produce 2brls of oil per tonne of coal. Thermal coal currently going for USD130/tonne. So would be competitive with oil over $65/brl. This makes the basic assumption that the conversion plant has similar cost to the oil refinery.
The fact that Sasol has been doing it for 50 years and still going indicates it is economic.
If there were no artificial penalties for burning coal to make electricity then it is likely lower cost with regard transport to make electricity from the coal to power electric vehicles rather than convert the coal to oil. But South Africa has real issues with electricity generation and oil is more flexible because it offers readily accessible energy storage.
90
“But South Africa has real issues with electricity generation and oil is more flexible because it offers readily accessible energy storage.”
..and they had it all running in the 1970s because of… wait for it… American sanctions! There’s nothing like sanctions to make a country independent and strong.
31
And there I was thinking Australia and England had sanctions against Sth Africa, particularly in sport.
10
Australia has massive oil shale deposits. Some were once mined and transformed into lubrication oil during WW2 (e.g. https://robcaz.net/glen_davis_shale_oil_works.htm) but at current or foreseeable oil prices it is utterly uneconomic to mine this resource as its too energy intensive to do so. (And where would the energy come from, certainly not solar or wind?)
Despite that, there was a huge speculative boom on the Rundle deposits in the 1980’s until the oil price crashed.
Australian oil shales are mostly kerogen not oil so further complex and expensive conversion is necessary.
Also see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_shale_oil_operations_in_Australia?wprov=sfla1
12
A reason or one of several for the closure of the Glen Davis mine:
40
Fortunately I already hated unions.
31
I was in a building union when I worked on Cairns Base Hospital last century. Against my wishes but rather compelled. The whole show went west and work stopped and ended with me and many others out of pocket and no help from the union. A few of us got into a bit of biff with some arrogant delegates. Ended up well for us in one way I guess.
20
My best one was having the boys remove asbestos from the Carpenters Trade Union building in Auckland, in the days of compulsory unionism. Asbestos work straddled construction workers and engineering HVAC, and none of my guys were in a union at all.
“If anyone asks, say you’re in the Engineers Union..”
00
FWIW
You’ll probably be reassured to know –
“Academia Embarrasses Itself… Again”
“Over at Twitchy, a publication that curates the news in funny yet insightful ways, a headline reads, “Head of Medical School Tells Congresswoman the Vast Majority of Pregnancies Occur in Women.” Sure enough, Twitchy is telling the truth.”
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/academia-embarrasses-itself-again
50
I’ve seen a video of that interaction. He refused to say that biological males could NOT get pregnant though.
20
Good news.
Italy’s highest court upholds conviction of people for “honour” killing.
The following is copied from Farcebook but fact checked by me:
The original case was even reported by the BBC who usually ignore such atrocities.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-67769159
Also see https://www.ansa.it/amp/english/news/2026/07/15/murder-convictions-become-definitive-for-family-of-honour-killing-victim-saman_fc540ece-8884-4b34-820a-cf345d14e1ad.html
180
That sort of barbarous behaviour is not far away. It lurks nearby in the name of family honour.
40
It is presented as just a different culture which we are obliged to accept under our principle of Multiculturalism. I do not accept that.
Inside our culture, food, religion, sports, family, we have values and standards of behaviour. If you have a culture of violence, theft and even rape, murder and Sati(Widow immolation), honor killing, for example, you are not welcome. Acceptance of our standards is an essential qualification for migration, for very obvious reasons. But if you intend to ultimately take over the place and impose your standards, your culture, you are also not acceptble.
Multiculturalism has to be defined. Culture has to be defined. There are the cute bits of food, respect, clothing, dance, language, music and worship. Then there are the acceptable standard of behaviour and a willingness to take part in building the place, contributing, a work ethic, not just conspriring to take it by force. We have seen that right through the Middle East and for thousands of years.
Multiculturalism as defined as getting everything for nothing is not acceptable either. That’s not integration, that’s invasion.
10
If that’s multiculturalism, multilculrualism is a terrible idea.
All largely Christian Western countries believe in equal rights for humans, regardless of sex. Most of Asia does not. The problem is never discussed. Nor the insitutionalized class structures of India, the world’s biggest democracy. And equality of all people under the law, which is equality in legal rights, not in height, colour, sex, culture. Many things which are legal or not illegal in other countries are outlawed here. The laws here have to be respected, not replaced with Sharia law for example. That is a condition of entry, or should be.
Then gender rights was created to undermine equality of the sexes. It is irrelevant to equality, being only a psychological construct.
White privilege was created to undermine racial equality.
Toxic masculinity was created to undermine sex equality.
Black lives matter is the opposite of racial equality.
And Free Palestine was created to promote the total destruction of the State of Israel and its people, largely an unihabited wasteland a century ago. Anti semitism packaged as a fight for liberty, which it is not. No city on the planet received more cash than Gaza. And did zero for the people of Gaza but made the leaders billionaries.
Clean Energy is another lie designed to destroy cheap coal and gas energy in Western Democracies as if that is a holy quest instead of utter stupidity presented as proven science. If carbon is dirty, diamonds are dirty. All living things are dirty. It’s using the feeling of disgust to categorize carbon power as disgusting, the power which feeds nine billion people and freed the slaves.
Renewables is not a lie but a bad joke. Replaceables have to be ripped up every twenty years no matter how much you spend. Not fit for purpose, the waste is the greatest in human history.
And imagine how much money we would have in Australia if the $42Billion now being spent on Snowy II was spent on something which generated real power, not lose half of what it stores. Consider that coal power is forbidden in a country where coal is one of the major exports and the money is being used to build a No New Power Station. Utter insanity.
70
As for free power, free wind power, free solar power I cannot believe that ever made sense or has any crediblity left. The transmission line cost alone in Australia is over $1,000,000,000,000 and again produces no power at all. And when the windmills stop and the solar panels disintegrate, it’s all just waste, ugly, dirty industrial environmental pollution by people who didn’t care about the environment. Even in our National Parks and across our farmland. So another lie.
30
And the $1billion water pipleline from the Fitzroy river to Gladstone for Dr Forrest? Who just walked away when he changed his mind, changed his position, leaving the taxpayers with a rusting useless near total loss. It’s nice when it’s other people’s money and you don’t even have to say sorry. He should pay the bill. In cash.
30
The Week in Pictures: Don’t Get Buffalo’d Edition
10
FWIW
“Russia Pounds Kiev With the Largest Missile Attack of the War (VIDEOS)”
“With last night’s massive Russian airstrikes on the Ukrainian capital, the ‘quality of life’ there may have started to take a change for the worse – but there’s a catch.
CBS called last night’s attack ‘deadly, massive’, while The Telegraph and the New York Times called the ‘largest’, and CNN the ‘biggest’ missile attack of the 5-year war.
It’s estimated that between 40 and 50 ballistic missiles were launched at the city – and so far, the estimates in the western papers say ‘one person is dead’.
This appears to vindicate the Russian claims of only striking military targets (empty at night).”
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2026/07/russia-pounds-kiev-largest-missile-attack-war-videos/
50
Operation MoLoChKa: Crippling Russia’s Maritime Logistics
Starting on July 6, 2026, Ukraine’s Unmanned Systems Forces (USF) launched a sustained drone campaign codenamed “Operation MoLoChKa” (an acronym for “Moscow will fall through Crimea”) targeting Russia’s so-called “shadow fleet” in the Sea of Azov. Within just nine days, Ukrainian forces claimed to have struck at least 116 Russian vessels, including oil tankers, cargo ships, ferries, and tugboats. The operation aimed to sever maritime supply lines to Russian-occupied Crimea and disrupt Russia’s export of grain and petroleum products.
00
One person dead after all those missiles! Strike me blind! Shows that Russia is targeting economic infrastructure.
10
The girls schools will come later
10
“The girls schools will come later”
The last place for the NATO ‘advisors’ to hide…
00
You have noticed, what I have noticed, that there is a huge disparity in the reporting between claims. Fifty large missiles, 1 dead? How is that even possible?
Even the damage of the great Cathedral at Kiev. No Russian would target that. It’s their culutural monunement and history. Even the Germans documented the cathedral.
But a wayward Ukranian interceptor might hit it and blame the Russians. The 11th Century Cathedral , claimed by all religions, is one of the ten wonders of Ukraine and in the seat of the Kievan Rus, the foundation of Russia itself.
But like the Russian Nord Steam pipeline from Russia to Germany, the Russians were blamed for blowing up their own pipeline! Even though they could just turn it off any time? And that was presented as fact even though it was ridiculous. We now know the Ukranians military blew it up and Zelensky knew all about it and allegedly tried to stop it. One of the bombers is charged now in Germany. The others are known but presumably out of the country, like one charged in Poland but set free. Likely because there was no crime in Poland.
This is a civil war, Russian on Russian. Involving Poland, Germany, France, the UK, all of whom have massively invaded Russia in the last two hundred years with dreams of conquest. And it’s still happening. NATO was created to defend NATO countries, not as an engine of war to invade Russia. That’s called mission creep and it is deadly to all parties when both sides are nuclear armed. You can be sure China and Iran are watching closely, as well as participating. It’s how world war is conducted and new weapons are tested. And money is made. As always.
00
As Paul Zanetti said at the end of his richardson post yesterday
GOOD. TWO LEGS BETTER
By
Paul Zanetti –
July 19, 2026
They should not congratulate themselves for making the climb steeper after they have already reached the top.
(If you have teenage or adult children, encourage them to read this. Many younger Australians voted Labor-Green believing they were supporting policies that would make it easier to build a future. They’ll ultimately decide for themselves whether the outcomes match those expectations. Millennials and Gen Z will bear the greatest burden of the Albanese–Chalmers tax changes, along with servicing Australia’s growing national debt for decades to come. You reap what you sow.).
41
I taken the adage with my adult children. I don’t tell them who to vote for, I tell them who NOT to vote for.
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How China is fighting heatwaves
https://youtu.be/G_VARM6AFdQ?si=lC7JtHqLS69IUiGX
LOL…😆😆😆
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“ ‘Allo, ‘allo , wat have we here then?”.
https://sonar21.com/russia-continues-to-pound-ukraine/#comment-411357
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A few Iranian strikes on US bases in Jordan With several killed and many more wounded and evacuated to Germany. Blackhawks and a Tomcat destroyed. Missiles deviated in flight apparently avoiding US defence systems. Conjecture that Russia and China are providing Iran with targeting of these bases. We’ll see what spin the State Department will put on it.
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Been hearing about the lettuce diarrhea problem in the US. Sympathy to our US friends and anywhere else this is happening. Cyclospora parasite contaminated eg. lettuce causes the intestinal illness cyclosporiasis. It spreads when produce is contaminated by human feces, typically through tainted irrigation water or infected field workers. Infections lead to severe, watery “explosive” diarrhea and stomach cramps. Not good. But it’s lead to many memes and funny quips. Also, there are a lot of Canadian forest fires too, which is causing smoke problems in some states. Examples of memes follow. But, not funny if you’re the victim.
– Who’s laughing now says COVID toilet paper hoarder
– If explosive diarrhea was a person, with a picture of Gavin Newsom in the background
– Between the air quality and the parasites I have no choice but to sit on the couch and eat chocolate
– Right now chocolate is good for you and lettuce can kill you. I’ve been training my whole life for this moment
– I picked a bad time to start eating salads.
Plus many more.
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The Cyclospora parasite outbreak in the US comes from imported lettuce, not domestically grown.
Australia imports only small quantities of lettuce and there are no recorded outbreaks from that.
Just sayin’.
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Damn Dirty Canadian lettuce.
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A number of years Australia did have a similar problem. It was from those mixed lettuce bags you see in supermarkets. The ones with all the type of lettuce leaves and things like Rocket etc. Not sure what the origin was or the microbial species involved. I recall something about one large farmer ( Tripod ) and maybe some link to Bacchus Marsh. So, Australia is not immune from these type of things David.
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More on that
“Authorities Identify Source of Nationwide Cyclospora Outbreak: Salad Distributer Used By Taco Bell”
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2026/07/authorities-identify-source-nationwide-cyclospora-outbreak-salad-distributer/
“Taco belly”?
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That’s what people get for eating rabbit food.
Those of us who live on pizza, fried chicken, cheeseburgers and milkshakes are laughing as we take our insulin injections.
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Umm, while we’re talking food then!
Now I’m single, I get to eat ….. whatever I feel like, and the cooking is so much fun I’ve found, and with so much information available these days, it’s just a matter of following the recipe, wherever it comes from, and while years ago, that may have been with a sense of dread, it’s now done with confidence.
Some of the food prep calls for garlic, and I’ve learned to substitute minced garlic for the real ones.
I’ve also become a ‘responsible’ eater of canned fish, (tuna, salmon, mackerel, sardines) and I love all types, so I actually researched them and found the most responsibly sourced and prepped canned fish, and if you do go and look, you’ll be really surprised how ‘crook’ some of them really are, and now why ….. reading the label takes on a whole new perspective.
So, there I was in my local health food store on Saturday morning, (Market Organics) stocking up on Wheat Germ, (just divine when added to Weet Bix with warm milk on cold mornings) and some canned fish products. I also saw a bottle of ‘Certified Organic’ minced garlic, so I got that as well, you know sourced from a health food store so you just KNOW it’s so good for you, eh!
Okay, back home and as I’m packing it all away, I look at the bottle of minced garlic, and there on the label was this:
Oh, well, back to Masterfoods from Woolies.
Tony.
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As Kevin Rudd would say – ” .. those little Chinese rat f*****s”.
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Tony those “made in Australia” statements used to be based on the values of each component. Lots of “made in Australia” stuff was because it was brought in in bulk and packed here. So, high labour cost and high packaging costs allowed the claim. A well known brand of canned tuna was made in Australia for years with fish caught and processed in Thailand but canned in Australia . I believe the laws now allow “made in Australia from local and imported ingredients” still with the value of the inputs being the determining factor.
I once bought a bag of sugar from Coles that had the made in Australia from local and imported ingredients tag so I rang them up and wanted to know how, on a single ingredient product it could carry the declaration. The advice was the sugar was from Brazil but packed here, so within the law.
As an aside I wanted to know why sugar was being imported as Australia was a major producer of this. Answer was cyclone Larry had destroyed the sugar crop so sugar had to be imported to cover the short fall. Australia exported 100’s of thousands of tonnes that years, so much for supporting local farmers eh..
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There seems to be some link to chocolate. I thought it was about the newly found general health benefits of chocolate, mostly the dark types.
But, people may have also used those Combantrim type chocolate squares as some form of treatment. The ones containing Pyrantel Embonate which are targeted towards children. Supposedly Pyrantel only has activity towards intestinal worms- threadworms, roundworms and hookworms. (Some Combantrim tabs also contain mebendazole)
Not sure if either pyrantel or mebendazole has activity vs Protozoa. Probably something I could ask AI.
But, then again the US FDA also said IVM was not active vs COVID and it was a horse dewormer. So there is that…
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Lettuce see if similar outbreaks happen.
Might be the tip of the iceberg.
The salad eaters will have to turn over a new leaf too.
That’s where importing from lesser countries gets you.
Imported lettuce from Mexico.
Outbreaks have increased 800% since the NAFTA trade deal.
Oh but it’s cheaper and our profits are higher!
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FWIW – another US lettuce story from back in BC
Then almost all their iceberg lettuce came from Imperial Valley.
There is another irrigation area along the Rio Grande in New Mexico which can grow the same crops like lettuce but comes in somewhat later.
A farmer there planted lettuce and plowed it in for about 5 years.
The 6th year Imperial valley got hit by an unseasonal frost and lost that crop.
So, for about a fortnight he had the only iceberg lettuce in USA. And allowed that he probably wouldn’t plant lettuce again for a while.
10
So it begins…
See for the reveal and Brian Roemmerle on socials for details.
TLDR: Huginface had their AI infrastructure attacked by an outside LLM, which one is still unknown. When they tried to use commercial AI to analyse the attacks, OpenAI and Anthropic couldn’t tell if it was an enquiry or an incoming attack and shut down the query.
Huginface had to resolve the attack using an open source AI, running internally on known good clusters.
The AI wars have begun…
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In a previous life (1971) I saw an F-4 Phantom nearly crash, or that’s what I thought. I was on Amberley airbase, walking back from lunch to work when this aircraft was coming towards me, wallowing at low level, nose high. nose low corkscrewing through pitch and yaw. I was looking for cover. He recovered and continued with a display routine that I thought was impressive. I heard that on the high speed pass he touched Mach 1 and broke glass in the servo outside the gate.
I had never seen such a manoeuvre before nor since and could not even give it a name. Years later with broadband I read about a “Dutch roll” and recognised it for what it was but searches never found an air display including it.
BTW A Dutch roll can be deadly:
Back to the story:
I’m finding Brave AI very useful for non-controversial topics and decided to search it again.
I didn’t see the display, I was home by then, I obviously saw the practice. That seardh result ended:
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I have just solved another mystery. It was said at the time that the pilot gained his experience in ‘Nam but that didn’t fit, the RAAF never flew F-4s there.
Did his father admire Sqn Ldr Guy Gibson who led the Dambusters Raid? He had a black dog which MUST remain nameless today.
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N….r, cause he was black, as I recall.
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It was the standard name for a black dog; my mother had one named thus when she was a wee girl in the 1920s.
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Reasonably, in my opinion. Our old copy of the film has the correct name for the dog.
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A prickly sort of chap eh what. Very unpopular with most who served under him by most accounts, but a game fellow. Mystery over his death whilst flying a Mosquito as pathfinder but had very little experience with a difficult crate and it is thought that he forgot to change fuel tanks and ended up slamming into Dutch territory. Another was that a German Night fighter nailed him but this has been dismissed as the Germans claimed only one and that was some 300kms away. Reach for the Sky was a good read .
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Was there a change of subject there or “right author, wrong book”?
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Yea. Reach For The Sky was Bader, another chap I imagine it hard being around. Was a proponent of Big Wing defence of fighters. Not everyone agreed.
20
Didn’t our RAAF lease 24 F4 Phantoms used for ground attack in Vietnam from 1970 to ’73, while waiting for the 24 F111’s on order.
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What happened after wolves were introduced to Yellowstone national park
https://va.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_oxbg2q9hQw1uvv5gh.mp4
An oldie but always worth a repost.😎
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Francesca Hong (SDA) is in a race to become Governor of Wisconsin and is leading the charge. She has anarchist sympathies in a purple state.
02
FWIW
“Canadian Prime Minister Blames U.S. Climate and Energy Policy for Canada Wildfires
July 18, 2026 | Sundance | 310 Comments”
“President Trump pointed out Canada’s forestry mismanagement and their failure to follow through with previous promises of investment that have led to catastrophic wildfires now producing smoke streams making U.S. Northern cities and states live under dangerous conditions.
Prime Minister Mark Carney was asked about the U.S. government position, and he immediately hit back by saying the cause of Canada’s wildfires is ‘climate change’ and President Trump’s unwillingness to support the Paris Climate Treaty has created the problem that Canada is now dealing with.”
More at
https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2026/07/18/canadian-prime-minister-blames-u-s-climate-and-energy-policy-for-canada-wildfires/
Padding “The Elbow Line”?
30
Just on the telly the State Funeral for Derryn Hinch, after an opening address by I think Derry’s Brother he then walked aside so that some bloke could do a welcome to country.
Now call me old and grumpy, but for the life of me, I cannot understand why this would be necessary at such an event. Maybe a welcome to heaven, hell or simply oblivion, but no. Oh wait, the bloody next speaker also had to acknowledge the “traditional owners” Gotta go to the shed and get a hammer.
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Bloody ridiculous.
The last time I was at an event with a WTC I turned my back. That was a few years ago now.
Fortunately I don’t go to many events.
I don’t care what event it is. I will turn my back every time.
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“Maybe a welcome to heaven, hell or simply oblivion, but no”
Those things are of the old religion.
You are complaining about the New Religion.
Resistance is futile.
00
Leftist Street interviews.
Unbelievable.
https://youtube.com/shorts/4lMHAJJs5Tg
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“Fascist”
Yet another word which has its’ meaning mangled* in the minds of those unable to resist mangling.
Like ‘woman’ and ‘mother’.
Or ‘vaccine’.
Or ‘democracy’.
Or “Public Health’.
Or the word ‘word’ which was previously never paired with the word ‘violence’.
“In the beginning was the Word” … hmm.
*By highly organized, professional word mangle-ers.
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FWIW
We have our principles, and we have others –
“VIDEO COLLAGE: Same Dirty Lying Democrats Who Claimed 2016 Election Was Stolen Are Now Attacking Trump after He Brings the Receipts on the Stolen 2020 Election”
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2026/07/video-collage-same-dirty-lying-democrats-who-claimed/
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FWIW
“Wind Energy Means Going Back To The Middle Ages, Says German Professor Horst-Joachim Lüdecke”
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2026/07/19/wind-energy-means-going-back-to-the-middle-ages-says-german-professor-horst-joachim-ludecke/
“ElBowen”‘s time machine?
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48 years doesn’t guarantee a nuclear plant.
That’s how long Darkhoven site has been being built. It is now back to square one.
The trials and tribulations stem primarily from Iran’s bluddy minded attitude but there is still much to cause problems. There is a little to be learned here by everyone.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-je2sfBxzI
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It’s hard to justify uranium for peaceful purposes when you have perhaps the world’s greatest oil and gas reserves and no working nuclear plant? Other countries like Dubai import their enriched uranium.
There is zero reason for Iran to enrich uranium. But not telling the truth is not a sin. It’s a requirement. The Ayatollah also issued a televised fatwa against two stage ICBMs, but apparently his fingers were crossed behind his back.
Commercial Power Reactors: 3% to 5% U-235.
High-Assay Low-Enriched Uranium (HALEU): 5% to 20% U-235; increasingly used for advanced reactors and some research facilities.
Weapons-Grade Uranium: Typically 85% to 90%+ U-235
Let me guess. Iran imports High Assay uranium at 20% for ‘advanced reactors and research’? Saves a lot of work.
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